Several years ago, I trawled through a great mass of literature with the idea of comparing the qualities of great modern leaders with those of great coaches. Four recurrent themes emerged: compassion, courage, curiosity and connection.
If there were any doubt that the world is suffering from a leadership deficit, the horrendous events in the Gaza war and other current conflicts, along with the polarisation of political leadership (this year more countries go to the polls than ever before) demonstrate how seriously absent these four qualities of leadership have become. Instead of compassion, we have hate. Instead of courage, we have cowardice. Instead of curiosity about how the other side might see things, we have indifference and intolerance. Instead of connectedness, we see the demonisation of people with different perspectives.
When leaders lose their humanity, everyone is diminished. Compassion fatigue sets in. It becomes harder and harder to speak out courageously and to be heard, unless you adopt the chant of the crowd. Curiosity is dulled when we seek the safety of the known and comfortable, because seeing the world through other eyes makes us feel guilty. And connection outside of our own tribe becomes discouraged and dangerous.
So, if leaders aren’t exemplifying these core qualities, are coaches unintentionally complicit in the leadership deficit?
All too often, the answer must be yes. The reason for this is that coaching has evolved to focus on helping people achieve goals – on doing. What the world really needs is coaches, who help leaders discover their own potential for greatness – on being.
If you accept this broad analysis, then it’s time for a radical overhaul of coach competencies, coaching ethics and coaching purpose. Every time a coach helps a narcissistic or sociopathic leader achieve greater authority, they are contributing to the leadership deficit. Whenever the coach enables a client to rise above their human frailties and fears, developing their compassion, courage, curiosity and connectedness they are helping the balance the positive side of the scale.
It all comes down to how we define ourselves and our role as coaches. I meet very few coaches, who don’t aspire to creating a better world. What I don’t see is many coaches having clarity about how they put that into practice, beyond the immediate benefit they may bring to individual clients. It’s time to take a systemic perspective. How will my coaching impact not just the client but the world around them? What can we as coach and client do together that will bring greater humanity into the workplace and beyond?
The narrower our vision of coaching and the impact coaching can have on the great challenges of society, the more helpless we allow ourselves to be. There are perhaps 300,000 coaches around the world today, most of them connected to numerous leaders. So, what has to happen for us to stop thinking small and adopt the collective mission of overcoming the global leadership deficit?
©️David Clutterbuck, 2026